The Portland daily press., 1887-03-28
REMARKABLE RABBITS.
The calamItIous Results OF Intro
ducIng them Into New Zealand
A Curious story Very Interestingly
Told.
[FrOm a New Zealand Gentleman ]

From New zealand Geulleman.l
The Dunedin shooting society, about
eighteen years ago. brought into New Zea-
land kind Of rabbit called the silver gray
There are some among them that are called
the silver brown; now and then among the
inhnity Of their descendants you sec black
rabbit, or white-furred red-eyed albino.
THESE animals developed In three respects
after being set loose In the colonies. In
England they are said to breed from four TO
eight times during the year. to have from
three to seven young ones at time, and to
weigh on an average two and half pounds.
Six years after being set at large Ia the colon
les they had evoluted into animals weighing
from five to ten pounds; the female had
young ones every month-about ten or eleven
births year-and gave birth from six 10
ten at time. Lastly, the animals developed
an instinct OF burrowing bigger holes and
going down deeper than they did In their
protected warrens In the old countries
They were liberated away from beaten
paths, high In the ranges. where ths Crown
tenants members Of the acclimatizatlon so
cieties and their shephards watched them
vigorously, and 1t soon became a sign OF
gentility TO send miner or farm laborer 10
jail for shooting one or being found with
game In his possession. They were placed
on river Islands near the seashore. They
were brought In vessel after vessel from
England and placed In these selected spots.
free they commenced to make feed
scarce In places among the hills for the
sheep; but the squatters, finding they had a
bigger contract on hand than they expected.
kept everything as quiet as possible. The
farseeing ones sold cut, and others were 81
lent. Severe winters drove the rabbits down
from the hills. When the waters got low In
midsummer they got away from their Islands
in the rain rivers when the SHOWS had melt
ed and passed away In floods the rabbits es-
capped in midwinter from their islands In the
snow rivers; when the wind blew for days
from the land the rabbits escaped from the
Islands near the shore over paths generally
At first the Australian squatters coming
over TO New Zealand envied the New Yea
land country gentlemen their preserves and
carried silver grays and silver browns over
10 Australia. These were taken to interior
sheep and eatt Q stations In Victoria, New
South Wales and Queensland-in the back
c0untry-and liberated on the open plains or
turned In their present Businesses, the brush
or growth called the malice. The men who
broght In and so vigorously protected these
pests sowed the wind, and many Of them be-
fore long reaped the whlrlwind. The rabbit
plague, however, first showed itself In an
alarming manner In South New Zeaisnd. A
severe winter drove the rabbits DOWN from
the mountains and hills They attacked the
winter feed Of the sheep on the lower coun-
try; the escaped and overcrowded rabbits
from the islands joined forces with those
from the hills. About five years after they
had been set loose the face OF immense tracts
Of country was suddenly changed, and be-
fore seven years were over many Of those
who had been Jealous in protecting their
game were depleted in purse or actually beg
CARED by the pests.
The lot Of the pioneers Of farming indus
try, those on the outskirts Of the farming
settlements, was the hardest Of all. Wherev-
ar tha rah hhffu oou1d hold "A an
or stony lands, or unlmproved large estates.
on government lands, on sand dunes by Lhc
rivers, ON waste slopes facing the sun, where
they multiplied incredibly. they would issue
from their covers and rayage every cuItiva-
tion for miles around. Land that had given
seventy bushels Of oats and thlrty-hve or
forty bushels Of wheat to the acre had to be
abandoned; miners who had tolled hard all
their lives, who had cut a little abiding
place out Of the wilderness and made their
small patches TO blossom like the rose,'
farm laborers who had saved enough TO start
farming for themselves; tradesmen and la
bOrers who had left the towns to build homes
for themselves upon the land: many OF these
had just succeeded In establishing thers-
selves In comfort when the rabbit plague
came upon them like deluge and compelled
them to abandon their holdings and COM
mence life anew. The silver grays nrst
turned out were clipper built. Now they
had doubled In size. and every farm was in
yaded with thousands, and In some cases
hundreds Of thousands Of monstrous rabbits.
Their skins have some little commercial
value, but nothing compared TO that Of the
wool, wheat, oats and dairy produce they
have displaced. In New Zealand upon shell
tered uplands, where IL Is warm In summer,
II has been demonstrated that the grape can
be profitably grown, but the rabbits ruined
the enterprising Frenchmen who dem0nstra-
ted the success Of the experiment. Even
where the rabbits kept down BY large
population he must be pOt-hunted, shot By
.r Al hhff- al frau
0ned, shared and hunted by hawks, cats.
dogs and weasels necessarily. ..l "
The land upon which the rabbits ara plen-
tlful looks bare, utterly bare Places arnnng .
fine, long natural grass, patches that would
give summer feed TO eight or ten sheep 10
the acre for eight months In the year and
large tracts that would carry two or three
ly denuded Of all vegetation and the soil
blows about in loose dust By ineessant war
fare the small holders arc gradually reclaim
ing abandoned holdings, but the men who
tried hardest TO build up an arist0cracy In
the colonies on strictly English and feudal
lines, have been and will be the greatest suf-
ferer from the prolific pest Of their game pre-
serves.
have travelled over large areas many
times, with a government commission that
gave a great deal Of attention TO il for nearly
six weeks. There are places. where, through
long summer day you VIII not see snceP,
when you do see them they are miseraolo
looking, but II rarely happens that you do
not see q rabbit, and In places you can count
them by twenties. Day after day, travelling
at rapid rate, you see the rabbits ON the
road-they will hardly get out OF the way
OF the cOach-rabbits by the half dozen In
quisitively looking at you from each side OF
the dry culverts, rabbits playing hide and
seek on the sands, rabbits scraping the soil
opening up fresh burrows. and rabbits
sitting by hundreds In the sun at the
entrances Of their multitudin0us holes. Pro-
life as the British royal family. they are as
sly as an Indian where they are much hunted
In New Zealand they viii be able to cope
with the rabbit better than Aus
tralia; yet even In New Zealand. large tracts
Of what was formerly good pastoral country
are rendered permantly worthless. Inc
Australian Governments are now getting
hundreds Of miles Of wire netting 70 enclose
the rabbits, but II can be safely said that no
amount Of wire netting will keep the rabbits
from spreading Let the boundary riders OF
watchers be ever so vlgilant the rabbits will
get through the netting or burrow under the
wire work. And there will always be
enough dsgruntled tramps or 'sund0wners'
in the country TO cut wire at points where
the rabbits will get through Immediately, or
even snare them at wholesale and carry them
over the line. But apart from that the at
tempt though general and costly will be
failure. IL may mitigate the rabbit little
but II will not suppress him.